I would have liked to have written this in full in the complaints field on your site, but 3800 characters isn’t enough to explain how dangerous my walk home is.

Here it is in full, with accompanying diagram. Suitably censored.

My complaint is in regards to the roadworks taking place at the end of SCR as well as the additional roadworks on IR.

My first complaint, as a driver, is about the (excessively long) temporary traffic signals at the end of SCR, It has come to the point that when driving home from the station I simply take a 20 minute detour in which ever direction I happen to feel like taking. Which has proven to be quicker than waiting for the lights.

My second complaint about the same set of temporary traffic lights is as a pedestrian. If I believe my logic to be correct, the lights remain red so long to allow pedestrians to cross? As there is currently no other option for a pedestrian but to run blindly across the road hoping they don’t get run over.

That road is incredibly dangerous to cross even when the other traffic lights were working and the pedestrians (supposedly) have right of way.

I have on one occasion seen a police car (no sirens or lights) go through a red light (it having been red for long enough for the driver to have applied the brakes), coming from the direction of OKR. On another occasion as I was crossing, while the green man was lit up (not flashing as I had only taken two steps into the road) I was very nearly hit by a bicycle who decided to go through a red light, coming from the station. I wont list all of the near misses I’ve had at those lights but I should like to point out that I’m not the kind of pedestrian to wander into the road when the light isn’t green. Though I will be honest I have been temped at times, because the length of time it takes for the pedestrian’s turn to come around really is a long time. As a fairly fast walker I barely have time to cross the road before the drivers amber light is flashing and I’m getting sworn at for not having crossed the road quicker.

My third complaint I have touched upon in my comments above. The length of time the original lights took to let a pedestrian cross was simply not long enough. The length of time a pedestrian has to wait is also much too long, which for those pedestrians who aren’t as pedantic as I am about waiting for the ‘green man’ has proven too long, and their incidents have contributed to my aforementioned list of near misses at the end of SCR. Including the lady with a pushchair who had barely placed the front wheels on the pavement before a driver accelerated as fast as he could around her. (Again going through his red light)

My fourth complaint is about the closure of the footpath on IR. Because of those temporary traffic lights, as a pedestrian my route from the station involves walking up IR, and as a result footpath closure I am forced to cross the road. However, the temporary traffic lights, and their excessive waiting times seems to bring out the worst in some drivers, who have done some pretty bizarre manoeuvres (again through red lights) in order to get that little bit closer to those temporary lights. Which in turn means some crazy formations take place in and around the yellow box. This not only makes it hard to cross, as there is usually cars parked bumper to bumper across the pedestrian crossing (I’m talking now of experiences even before the temporary lights were in place) but also incredibly dangerous as many of the drivers who have ‘parked’ in the pedestrian crossing see the lights change and move off. Regardless of a green light for the pedestrian or not.

The other problem in this route is linked to my second complaint. The incredibly dangerous system in place for pedestrians crossing at those temporary lights.

This brings me to my fifth complaint. the new temporary traffic lights on SCR. Once I have been forced to cross over a dangerous road twice, I now can’t continue undisturbed down the right side of SCR because of the new pavement closure. This means either crossing the road twice, again, walking on the road (a very silly thing to do given the aggression of the drivers probably in part due to excessive wait at the many traffic lights they’ve just come through) or finally, when crossing at those temporary lights on IR, crossing over to the bicycle lane. (where again the pedestrian is made to feel inferior) Once on the left side of the road I have one last road crossing to do. Still a fairly dangerous road now made even more dangerous by the drivers desperately trying to get through the last red light.

I really don’t see how any consideration was given to the pedestrian in the planning of all these road works. I understand you can’t be held responsible for the actions of the drivers, but you can see how drivers will act out of character (for some) when being forced to wait 10 minutes and only move the length of one car.

If you’re not from the council and you read this far, congratulations your as conceited as I am. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go and sit in my window and watch people suspiciously as they walk past.

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http://www.glazzle.co.uk Brian

This seems to be the way the council and rail companies work. They give work to contractors, much of it unnecessary, and then abdicate all responsibility for it. The work takes 5 times as long, is uncoordinated, as you are experiencing near home, and undoubtedly costs a fortune.

The unnecessary work is so that the contractors can keep their teams intact and have an income during times when there is nothing else to do. Let’s spend some budget, eh?